Known devices for securing cords such as cable ties or straps or clips often require constricting or pinching the cord to hold it in place. Where a cord is a tube it is generally used to convey fluids such as food, chemicals, medicines, gases and such. Securing a tube designed to convey fluids by constriction could disrupt the tube's main function by narrowing the lumen, and reducing or blocking the flow of fluids. For this reason such tubing are often secured by glue or other chemical adhesiyes in a sticking or fixing plaster. Such glue or other chemical adhesives may be used only once and usually are to secure the tube or tubes permanently in one place. Often the adhesive will damage the tube. They are unsuitable in situations where the surface of the tubing should not be damaged or altered, and where the segments to be held together have to be changed now and then.
Medical tubes are usually formed of materials that are relatively soft or of low durometer readings such as, for example, silicone rubber. The material commonly used results in the tube having a resilient elastic quality that are prone to stretch. Clips which can hold the tubing snugly, without constricting the lumen are available. However, the tubes tend to slip out of position when there is tension on the tubing. Since the tubing is elastic, it elongates under tension and becomes a thinner structure. As a result, the snug fit of the clip around the tube is lost and the clip slips out of position.
An example of this is depicted in FIG. 1, where 1a shows a tubing clip and a hollow elastic tubing marked X where it is desirable to have the tube clamped; 1b shows the clip holding the tubing snugly at the proper place marked X; 1c shows the tubing becoming thinner when it elongates under tension. The clip no longer holds onto the tubing and slips out of position by gravity or an extraneous force; and 1d shows that the clip has displaced from proper place marked X when there is no more tension on the tube. Where a clip moves from a desirable place to have the tube clamped to somewhere else on the tube it can result in either                a) the tube being too tight and impinging on the entry point of the tube into the body which is likely to be uncomfortable or painful for the patient; or        b) the tube could become too loose increasing the possibility of the tube being dislodged or coming out which may cause pain and discomfort or unnecessary complications.        
Frequently, there is a need to bundle two or more tubes together particularly in a medical setting. It is often important that these tubes do not become tangled or intertwined to avoid any unnecessary complications and/or time consuming untangling by medical personnel.
The preceding discussion of the background to the invention is intended only to facilitate an understanding of the present invention. It should be appreciated that the discussion is not an acknowledgment or admission that any of the material referred to was part of the common general knowledge as at the priority date of the application.
There is a need for a device which can secure segments of resilient tubing and may ameliorate some or all of the problems of prior art.